Basil Coetzee

Basil " Manenberg " Coetzee [ kut ͜ sɪə ] ( born February 2, 1944 in District Six, † 11 March 1998 in Mitchell 's Plain, Cape Town ) was a South African musician (tenor saxophonist, flutist ) consisting of the township jive own soulful access to the Modern Jazz developed.

Life and work

Coetzee grew up under poor conditions on where belonging to Cape Town Township. In early youth the penny whistle was his first instrument. In 1958 he started performing in the township. Short term he changed the drums before he decided at age 16 for the concert flute. At age 21, he taught himself to play on the tenor saxophone with that ultimately became his main instrument. In 1962, he was the first time in the recording studio. In the early 1970s he toured with Abdullah Ibrahim and Oswietie. On vinyl it was heard on the album Underground in Africa ( 1973). He was given the then following recording by Abdullah Ibrahim Miner Is Where It 's Happening (1974 ) due to the intensity of his game and the attention which was the album in South Africa, finally known, the recording was extremely popular in the townships; Coetzee was called to speak to the title track of the LP Manenberg Coetzee; only a few years earlier (1969 ) he had been forced with his family due to the demolition of District Six, to pull in the new township of Manenberg.

Together with Robbie Jansen, he founded the band Pacific Express, which was one of the leading bands of the Cape jazz. Still, he could not earn a living as a jazz musician and was during the 1970s and early 1980s as a laborer working in a shoe factory. That changed in 1986 with the founding of his band Sabenza and the establishment of the Cape Town School of Music MAPP. 1987 Sabenza appeared at the Festival Culture in Another South Africa in Amsterdam; there he met exiled musicians like Jonas Gwangwa, Mervyn Africa, Russell Herman and Dudu Pukwana. A tour of Europe joined in the following year; The band supported the election campaign of the African National Congress. As Abdullah Ibrahim returned to South Africa, Coetzee played regularly in its formations. Besides this he continued on with Sabenza.

His third album under his own name, B: , appeared shortly before his death after a long suffering from lung cancer.

Disco Graphical Notes

• Sabenza (1988, with Robbie Jansen, Michael Martin, James Kibby, Titch Jean -Pierre, Paul Abraham, Jack Momple, Vic Higgins)
• Monwabisi (1993, with Tony Schilder, James Kibby, Paul Abraham, Monty Weber, Jack Momple )
• B: (1998)

Lexigraphic entries

• South African History Online